THE WRONG HALF THIS TIME

by Western Demon

We often hear it said about a football match that it was a "game of two halves" and that certainly applies to yesterday's encounter between Melbourne and Fremantle at Subiaco. The problem for the visiting team was that its dominant "half" only lasted for a quarter while the Dockers held sway for the remaining three quarters. The result – a 46-point Fremantle win over a pathetic Melbourne side that descended into the category of a rabble well before the final siren.

The young Demons, decked out in their putrid looking silver attire, belied their inexperience in the first term when they shot out of the blocks like a house on fire. They were wining all over the ground and had the locals totally mesmerised as unfamiliar names and faces ran riot to score five goals to nil by the first change.

I was particularly impressed by the young talls in defence led by Colin Garland, Matthew Warnock and Stef Martin. Chris Johnson was in dazzling form, creating lots of run off the flank. Freo skipper Matthew Pavlich was getting close attention from Lynden Dunn in the middle, the Melbourne rucks were holding their own against the Docker twin towers and former Sandgroper Cale Morton was treating his former home town with a dazzling display of skill, kicking two goals and amassing ten possessions in the opening term. Then there was the red headed shock of hair of Matty Bate as he flashed across the ground picking up eight touches and Simon Buckley's pace was causing havoc, Brad Miller and Michael Newton were getting away from their defenders and, in the centre of it all orchestrating proceedings with his brilliance was Aaron Davey returning from a week’s "holiday" at Sandringham courtesy of a touch of too much demon drink at a wake for a family member in Darwin.

With Melbourne leading by 5.1.31 to 0.2.2 at the quarter time break, I was regretting the fact that the booing of the home crowd was affecting my concentration so much that I wasn't able to master the mental arithmetic needed to calculate by how much it had outscored Fremantle in its last three quarters of game time against that club. I was however, looking forward to the next three quarters and any self respecting supporter at the ground (and no doubt those at home or in pubs watching on their television screens) would be forgiven for asking the question:

By how much are we going to smash this mob?

Well, it took that mob until 10 minutes into the second term (when the Dees already had six) to manage their first goal for the game and that was partly thanks to all three blind mice officiating at the game missing what appeared to be a Docker throw in the goal square. At that stage, the floodgates opened and the Demons hit the wall.

I'm not sure whether the folks living to the east of Australia's largest state would be aware of this, but last month there was a large explosion and fire a major gas processing plant over here that not only threatened our gas supplies but also raised the possibility of an end to the economic boom in the west. Something like the same scare ran through the Melbourne camp at about the half way mark of the second quarter because they simply running out of gas.

Fremantle, with their stronger bodied players, their greater experience, their superior knowledge of the ground and its conditions, simply pummelled the hapless Demons into submission. The opposition simply wanted it more, their strength came to the fore, they dominated the midfield clearances and, with those substantial advantages, there was nothing Melbourne’s young team could to stem the tide. Instead, they reverted back to turning the ball over and committing a massive amount of clangers as they turned a 34 point lead into a 46 point deficit by the end of the game.

A lot has been said of Melbourne’s famous round 7 come from behind victory but the truth is that many of the instigators behind that win were missing yesterday – players like Brock McLean, Brad Green, Brent Moloney, James McDonald, Jared Rivers, Russell Robertson and Jeff White to name a few. In their place, the club sent a team of promising youngsters - boys on mens' errands. Many of them had light frames that are currently not able to go the distance physically or mentally with the more experienced Docker contingent and a pre season of gym work and the return of some of the Demons’ more seasoned players should hold them in much better stead next time they head out this way.

I was bemused by comments from some quarters that Melbourne might be chasing Docker beanpole Robert Warnock, brother of Matthew, because his physical shape would fit in well with the lightweight Demons. If young Robert comes back to Victoria to play with his brother, let's hope that the folks have a decent home gym installed for the pair.

When Matthew Bate hit the post from close range in the final term, it summed up the Demons' pathetic second half when its forward fire power fizzled out to virtually nothing. The problem with Melbourne's games was that its second half was much longer than the first and very few of their players could hold their heads high at the end although credit must be given to Cameron Bruce, Davey and Chris Johnson for hanging tough throughout the day.

Melbourne returns home with a place in the bottom two of the competition virtually parcelled up and facing a difficult assignment next week against the Kangaroos. That task might seem daunting but, although it might not mean much, it is probably worthwhile to remember that the Dockers' previous win was against the Shinboners at Subiaco in Round 12 when they won by 53 points.

All the Demons have to do next week is to make sure that they can player a longer half of good football next time!

Melbourne 5.1.31 6.3.39 7.5.47 10.8.68

Fremantle 0.2.2 5.9.39 11.15.81 16.18.114

Goals

Melbourne Bate Miller Morton Newton 2 Jamar P Johnson

Fremantle Pavlich 5 McPharlin 3 Carr Ibbotson McManus O'Brien Peake Sandilands Schammer Tarrant

Best

Fremantle Pavlich Schammer Ibbotson Crowley McPharlin McManus

Melbourne C Johnson Wheatley Buckley Bruce Bate Jones

Injuries

Melbourne Nil

Fremantle Brock O'Brien (hamstring)

Changes Nil

Reports Nil

Umpires Kennedy Hendrie Avon

Official crowd 31,638 at Subiaco Oval